Timberwolves: Trade talks? Yes. A trade? Not so easy these days

The hot rumor involving the Timberwolves is that guard Luke Ridnour could be shipped out before the NBA trade deadline Thursday, Feb. 21. Wolves president of basketball operations David Kahn declined a request to be interviewed Tuesday. And coach Rick Adelman missed practice to accompany his wife to a doctor's appointment. That left assistant coach Terry Porter to field questions about the trade deadline. He didn't discuss specific players, but here is Porter ...

On whether he wondered if the roster would be different after the trade deadline: "You never know in this business. Things happen last minute. There are always trade rumors. The toughest part in this league is getting those trades pulled off. There's always talk about them but with all the logistics you have to deal with now, with salary caps and things of that nature, I expect there will be some talk. But I don't know how serious it will be or if anything gets pulled off."

On the possibility of the Wolves making the playoffs despite being 19-31: "We're still in striking distance. Obviously, we have to go on a run. There's no doubt about that. We definitely have to get healthy as quick as we can and we've got to go on a run. It can still be done. It's not impossible."